If the 1908 Ford Model T was made as cheaply as possible, the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was made with no expense spared. The Rolls-Royce cost seven times as much as the Model T and didn’t even come with a body.

The 1907 Rolls-Royce 40/50 “Silver Ghost” was described as the “Best Car in the World”, an epithet bestowed on it by the magazine Autocar:

“The running of this car at slow speeds is the smoothest thing we have experienced while for the silence the engine beneath the bonnet might be a silent sewing machine

…at whatever speed this car is being driven on its direct third, there is no engine as far as sensation goes, nor are one’s auditory nerves troubled driving or standing by a fuller sound than emanates from an eight day clock.

There is no realisation of driving propulsion; the feeling as the passenger sits either at the front or the back of the vehicle is one of being wafted through the landscape.”

Autocar 1908

The chassis was originally called the 40/50 and the power output was a rather relaxed 48 hp from just over 7 litres of capacity (the current Rolls-Royce Phantom V12 car develops 563 hp from 6.75 litres, nearly 12 times the power).

The gentle state of tune of the Rolls-Royce 40/50 made the engine delightfully flexible and the ability to drive almost everywhere in top gear was of great importance to Edwardian motorists, many of whom could not manage the “crash” gearboxes of the day and were unable to change gear on the move.

Claude Johnson, Rolls-Royce’s managing director realised that excellent though the new model was it needed to be brought to public attention if the newly floated Rolls-Royce Ltd was to succeed.

Johnson had an unerring eye for publicity. He used to balance a glass of water on the bonnet of the new 40/50 while the engine was taken up to 1,600 revolutions per minute, and not a drop would be spilled.

He would also balance a penny on the end of the chassis and the penny would remain where it was.

He then had an even better idea. He persuaded the factory to build a special “demonstrator.” This was chassis no. 60551, the 12th 40/50 to be made.

An open-topped Roi-des-Belges body by Barker was fitted which was specially finished in aluminium paint with silver-plated fittings.

On the dashboard was a plaque with the name that Claude Johnson had chosen: “Silver Ghost”. This actual car, registration number AX 201 features largely in the film “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”.

It is now considered the world’s most valuable car and is insured for around $35 million US dollars.

Silver Ghost was a name that was to resound down the years in the Rolls-Royce Hall of Fame, a name that at first referred to that particular car but eventually became applied to all 40s/50s.

Going so far up the market meant that the only individuals who could afford a 40/50 Silver Ghost were royalty, dictators, and the very wealthy.

Vladimir Lenin’s Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was purchased on 11 July 1922. It cost £1,850 which included a 15% discount due to an Eagle aero-engines deal that the new Russian Government had signed with Rolls-Royce.

Because of Moscow’s deep winter snows the car was fitted with caterpillar tracks at the rear and skis on the front wheels so that the dictator could be driven from his Gorki mansion to the Kremlin.

His chauffeur was Adolphe Kegresse, also Tsar Nicholas II’s personal driver (the Tsar had two Silver Ghosts).

Lenin showed just how much of a Bolshevik he was by owning eight more Rolls-Royce cars. At the same time as the Russian people were dying of cold, Lenin installed heated garages for the Rolls.

Lenin’s crimes were many; when famine swept his native Volga region in 1891, killing 400,000 peasants he propagandised against charitable relief efforts from America because the spectacle of death might prove a ‘progressive factor’ in weakening the Romanovs.

Stalin and Brezhnev also owned Rolls-Royces. Wherever history was being made there seemed to be a Rolls-Royce parked around the corner.

The Ford Model T and the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost shared much the same lifetime, being produced between the years 1908 to 1926, which enables some comparisons to be made. They both had four wheels and a petrol engine.

They could both carry four or five people.  But the chassis price for the 1921 Rolls-Royce American version was US $11,750 ($192,779 in today’s dollars), and the American car cost $300 or $4000 today.

AX 201, the original Silver Ghost is now valued at $35m, and a Ford T is around $10,000.

At least two of Lenin’s Silver Ghosts were converted to half-track drives by Kegresse. They both survive. Kegresse later worked for Citroën for whom he designed halftrack vehicles for use in the desert.

What was the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost like to drive? As you climb aboard you notice a large, cranked windscreen with a view over the bonnet which makes it look surprisingly short.

The Grecian radiator constantly reminds you that you are driving a Rolls-Royce. On top of the unsupported upright steering column is a big, 4-spoke wheel with a polished wooden rim.

On that is a control cluster with two levers, labelled Fast/Slow and Early/ Late, and the Governor.

The plain-speaking Henry Royce thought that “early/late”, referring to the spark timing, was more understandable than the more usual “advance/retard”.  A plate on the scuttle reads: “Rolls-Royce Ltd., London & Manchester” and gives the car number as 551.

The driver has a snake-like bulb-horn and the front passenger is also provided with a Desmo bulb-hooter, mounted outside below the left elbow.

Outboard of the driver’s door, and between it and the spare tyre are the silver-plated gear and brake levers.

The gear gate is unusual, as 1st is forward and left but 2nd and 3rd positions are both down and back, then with a short movement forward into the overdrive top; the reverse is between bottom and top.

The hand brake operates the cable-applied rear-wheel brakes, which are fairly quiet. The foot brake is little used; it works on the transmission and is likely to bind in hot weather and lock the back wheels in a skid.

The accelerator pedal is to the right of the brake, unusually for those days- it was often between the clutch and brake pedals.

Beside the spare wheel, there is a Cowley speedometer reading from 10 to 80 m.p.h., with a little clock next to it. The engine is idling silently.

When you drive off the Ghost will perhaps feel rather lorry-like, with a heavy clutch and the odd crunch of gears, but the flexible engine soon gets you up to 30 mph which is a comfortable cruising speed even on main roads.

The ride is surprisingly good. The passenger sits high in a comfortable leather armchair and they have to maintain 1 lb. fuel pressure with a vertical floor-mounted bicycle-like plated air pump, watching the gauge that reads to 4 lb/sq. in.

This needs constant attention or else the engine will stop. Otherwise, you glide along in silence. This is the best of Edwardian motoring.                                                         

For a while, the “Silver Ghost” really was the most famous car in the world. Not everyone was an admirer, though.

Laurence Pomeroy of Vauxhall described the Rolls-Royce as a triumph of workmanship over design, by which he suggested they placed too much reliance on correcting errors other manufacturers would have avoided in the first place.

History of the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was a luxury car produced by Rolls-Royce Limited from 1906 to 1926. Over its 20-year production run, it established Rolls-Royce as the ‘Best car in the world’, setting new standards in luxury, refinement, and reliability.

Name of Vehicle

The Silver Ghost name refers to the silver paintwork as well as the car’s smooth, quiet running.

Early models were officially called the 40/50 h.p. but the Silver Ghost name stuck after one particular car completed a non-stop endurance run, leading Claude Johnson to refer to it as ‘the silver ghost’.

How Many Were Made

Approximately 7874 Silver Ghost cars were produced between 1906 and 1926. Over 6173 of these were built in the Rolls-Royce Derby factory in England. The remainder were produced in Springfield, Massachusetts in the United States.

What Makes It Special

The Silver Ghost established Rolls-Royce as the undisputed manufacturer of the finest motor cars in the world. Key factors that made it stand out include:

• Refinement – The engine ran so smoothly and quietly that at speeds below 20mph it was difficult to tell if it was running at all. This led to the ‘silver ghost’ nickname.
• Reliability – The car set new standards in reliability and endurance thanks to detailed engineering and extensive testing. In 1907, a prototype Ghost completed a 15,000-mile non-stop run, cementing its reputation.
• Quality – The craftsmanship and materials were unrivalled. The coachbuilding was done by external coachbuilders who created beautifully crafted luxurious bodies for the chassis.
• Performance – It was capable of speeds up to 65-70 mph, very fast for the time. The ample 40/50 horsepower engine provided great flexibility and torque at low speeds despite its silence.
• Luxury – The well-appointed interior housed the latest innovations like electric lighting. The ride quality from the sophisticated suspension system was unmatched. It appealed to royalty, aristocrats, and the super wealthy.

Who Designed It?

The main people involved in designing and engineering the Silver Ghost were:

• Henry Royce – Co-founder of Rolls-Royce. He was the engineering brains behind the car, involved in the meticulous design and testing of the chassis, engine, and other mechanical parts.
• Charles Rolls – Co-founder who contributed design ideas, marketing skills and had the vision to realise Royce’s engineering excellence could be turned into the ‘best car in the world’.
• Claude Johnson – Businessman and promoter who led Rolls-Royce in its early years. He was the key driver behind the Silver Ghost model and convinced Royce to go ahead with production.

The Specification

The Silver Ghost had the following key specifications:

• Engine – In-line 6 cylinder, 7668cc displacement, overhead inlet, and side exhaust valves. The rated output was 48 bhp at 1,250 rpm.
• Transmission – 4-speed manual gearbox, with direct drive 3rd, overdrive 4th. Rear wheel drive via the open driveshaft.
• Suspension – Front, half-elliptic leaf springs. Rear, 3/4 platform cantilever springs.
• Brakes – Rear wheel drum brakes only, operated by hand or foot lever.
• Chassis – Long tapered chassis made from pressed steel and wood supports. The wheelbase was 142 inches.
• Body – Made by external coachbuilders. Typically 5-7 seats. Limousine and Tourer bodies are common.
• Dimensions – Length 14 to 15 feet. Width 5 to 6 feet. Height around 6 feet. Weight between 3600 lbs and 2 tons.

The Engine

The Silver Ghost was powered by a six-cylinder, 7668cc engine designed from scratch by Henry Royce. Key aspects:

• Inlet-over-Exhaust – The inlet valves were positioned above the combustion chamber, the exhaust valves on the sides.
• Aluminium Cylinder Head – Gave excellent cooling.
• Detachable Head – The head could be unbolted for easy maintenance and repairs, unusual for the time.
• Pressurised Lubrication – Oil was pumped to critical components for reliable lubrication.
• Extensive Testing – The engine design benefited from rigorous testing and refinement. The patented crankshaft vibration damper ensured the reliability of a component that regularly snapped on rival six-cylindered cars.
• Flexible Power – Abundant torque, especially at low rpm, gave effortless acceleration.

The Interior

The Silver Ghost interior represented the pinnacle of luxury in the early 1900s. Key features included:

• Luxurious Upholstery – The finest leather and wood veneers adorned the interior. Coachbuilders lavished great attention on their creations.
• Comfortable Seating – Deep buttoned seats with generous padding and springs provide unrivalled comfort, even on long journeys.
• Electric Lights – Electric lighting was still a novelty at the time. The Silver Ghost made great use of it to provide illumination at night.
• Comprehensive Instruments – An array of gauges and dials monitored all aspects of the car’s operation. Reliability was paramount.
• Intricate Detailing – From engine-turned aluminium dash panels to embroidered upholstery, no detail was overlooked. Customers could specify their own options.
• Amenities – Later cars had wind-down windows, map pockets, mirrors, heaters, and other amenities to pamper occupants.
• Custom Coachwork – Custom coachbuilders created limousines, coupes, tourers, and more. The Silver Ghost chassis was the perfect canvas for their imagination and skills.

How Many Are Left?

As a car produced over 100 years ago, the number of Silver Ghosts remaining is diminishing as time takes its toll. However, over 200 examples are believed to still exist. Of these:

• Around 180 are in the hands of private owners and collectors. They are highly sought after at auction.
• 20 or more are still road registered and driven on occasion. Well-maintained examples can still be used.
• A number are in museums like the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands which has an excellent collection.
• Some are undergoing or awaiting restoration by specialists. The challenging task keeps craft skills alive.

Parts availability and the dedication of owners have kept more Silver Ghosts on the road than might be expected. Many will remain pristine museum exhibits and investments, reminding us of the pioneering early days of Rolls-Royce.

The Hispano Suiza is a little-known car name now, but in its heyday, the H6 model wrested the title of “The Best Car in the World” away from Rolls Royce’s Silver Ghost.

Hispano Suiza was famed for its aluminium V8 aero engines which powered around half the Allied aircraft during World War One. After the conflict, seeking new markets, the company unveiled a remarkable luxury car at the 1919 Paris Auto Show: the H6.

The engine borrowed design features from the company’s aero engine and the quality of the rest of the H6 car surpassed anything else on the market. But why was there a stork sitting on the bonnet?

The Hispano Suiza H6 Production Years

The Hispano Suiza H6 was made between 1919 and 1933. Only around 2,700 were built.

• Technical Specifications of the 1919 Hispano Suiza H6:
• Engine: single aluminium cylinder block, six steel lined cylinders, a bore of 100 mm and a stroke of 140 mm sweeping a capacity of 6 1/2 litres, a single overhead camshaft, and a seven-bearing crankshaft machined from a single billet of steel with full pressure lubrication.
• Power output: 135 bhp at 3500 rpm.
• No magneto, instead it had twin coil ignition, twin plugs per cylinder providing redundancy. Three-speed gearbox, with right-hand change. Spiral bevel final drive in the rear axle.
• Powered brakes by mechanical servo on all four wheels – a world first – with a handbrake on the rear wheels.
• The suspension was semi-elliptic leaf springs front and rear. Wheelbase 3.69 m.
• Tyre Size 935 x 135 (source uniquecarsandparts).

Who Made the Hispano Suiza Cars?

“Hispano Suiza” simply means “Spanish-Swiss” in Spanish.

The name refers to the founders of the company; Spanish artillery captain Emilio de la Cuadra, who began making electric cars in Barcelona, and a Swiss engineer, Marc Birkigt, who Emilio de la Cuadra hired in Paris to design and build the new petrol (gasoline) engines.

Several car models were built before the First World War. Birkigt was an inspired designer and then drew an aero engine design for the Spanish and French air forces which foreshadowed the very best car engines of today.

King Alfonso XIII of Spain was the Hispano-Suiza designer Marc Birkigt’s patron, and his country’s last monarch. He enjoyed beautifully made fast cars.

The 1919 Hispano Suiza H6

The huge success of their Hispano Suiza HS 8A aero engine made enormous profits and an enviable reputation for the manufacturer.

After the First World War, there was a slump in orders for military aero engines so Hispano Suiza capitalised on its profits and image by going into luxury car production. Rolls-Royce followed a similar trajectory.

Drawing on his aero engine experience Birkigt designed an aluminium engine for the H6 car of six cylinders in a row, using an aluminium cylinder block, a single overhead camshaft, and a crankshaft made from a single piece of billet steel.

There was full pressure lubrication, unusual at the time, and it had twin coils instead of a magneto, and twelve sparking plugs, ensuring aircraft-like reliability.

The 6 1/2 litre H6 car engine developed 135 bhp using a single Solex carburettor: nearly as much as the original Hispano Suiza aero engine.

A new factory in France built the chassis, and the H6 coachwork and interiors were also created in France.

From the “cigogne volante”, or flying stork on the radiator to the 25-gallon fuel tank in the rear, this stunningly beautiful car was truly a Grand Tourer, or “une veritable grande routière”.

It cost a staggering £1,600 in the UK, a sum which could buy nine Morris cars.

In France, it was 110,000 Francs, and there you could have ten Citroens for the same money. And this was just for a bare chassis: the body then had to be added. It was thus the most expensive car in the world.

Art Déco was immortalised in the 1919 Hispano Suiza H6 in the intricate metalwork of mascots, headlights and engine vents, and in the colours and textures of the upholstery and furniture.

This style had emerged in France just before the First World War, taking cues from the bold shapes of Cubism, the primary colours of Fauvism and soon the exoticism of Egyptomania: King Tutankhamun’s tomb was excavated in 1922. 

Egyptian styles had become popular for women’s fashion too: they flung out their Edwardian mother’s corsets, bustles and dresses and ditched their complicated long hairstyles and hats.

What they wanted now was short, bobbed hairstyles, silk pyjamas and short drop-waisted dresses. And the car they wanted to be seen in was the Hispano Suiza H6.

As a result of the car’s technology and fashionable looks, Hispano Suiza H6 owners included Picasso, King Alfonso of Spain and the flying ace André Dubonnet.

The car inspired a best-selling novel, L’Homme à l’Hispano by Pierre Frondaie, in which an impoverished gentleman is given a luxury car by friends and passes himself off as wealthy, attracting a lover. It inspired two films which added still further to the car’s reputation.

As well as having an advanced engine the H6’s brakes were remarkable at a time when most brakes were terrible: there were huge alloy drum brakes on all four wheels and they came with power assistance: a first in the motor industry.

This worked from a mechanical servo drum clutched from the transmission, so all the time the car was rolling there was power assistance available.

This braking system was licensed to Rolls-Royce who used it, amazingly, until 1976 on the final series of the Phantom VI (it was not used on the monocoque Silver Shadow in 1965 and its successors).

It was even cleverer than it looked, anticipating modern electronic anti-lock brakes. If the rear wheels locked up during heavy braking, power assistance was lost until the wheels unlocked and started revolving again. Autocar magazine said this:

It does not matter whether the wheels are locked over or whether the car is travelling at high speed, there is no deviation and no uncertainty, the car merely drawing up as though grasped by an invisible hand’.

Autocar, May 1920

The H6 wasn’t perfect; it had only three gears and a crude cone clutch, and hill starts were tricky. To some, the stork mascot on the radiator cap looked like a depressed seagull.

But all considered the Hispano Suiza H6 was as beautiful, well made and advanced as its predecessor, the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost.

And yet today this is a car only remembered by the most discerning car connoisseurs.

Which Engine was in the Hispano Suiza H6?

The Hispano Suiza had a very advanced engine and it has a fascinating predecessor: an aircraft engine. Back in 1912, a “Kaiserpreis” had been offered for the best German aero-engine by Prince Henry of Prussia, and the Daimler company had entered a 7-litre 6-cylindered Mercedes engine with lightweight ‘upperworks’.

These were forged steel cylinders closely surrounded by metal water jackets, with overhead valves seated directly in the cylinder heads operated by an overhead camshaft.

They had copied this method of construction from a French Panhard engine of 1903 and the Antoinette 8V. The power was 84 hp, and the whole thing weighed only 313 lbs (142 kgs).

This DF80 was used in the successful Mercedes racing car of 1914 (one of these was bought by Henry Royce, and he copied the Mercedes engine in turn for his Rolls Royce Eagle aero engine. As is usual today, everyone was copying everyone else).

Marc Birkigt was also watching closely and thought he could do better. Instead of welding expensive and leaky water jackets around each cylinder like Mercedes, he proposed a one-piece cylinder block made of aluminium, with four cylinders formed by steel liners.

This made an immensely rigid and lightweight engine, and his design has gone on to become the accepted norm for modern car engines.

Like Mercedes, Birkigt used a single overhead camshaft over the line of cylinders. Furthermore, to make the Hispano Suiza HS 8A aero engine he placed two of these four cylindered cylinder blocks on a crankcase at 90 degrees, forming a V8 engine of 12 litres and 140 bhp. The power eventually was increased to 330 bhp.

Incidentally, Birkigt hadn’t invented the V8 engine, that was Levavasseur, who in 1903 had patented a fuel-injected eight-litre V8 engine, a machine now so identified with American muscle-car culture of the sixties it might come as a surprise that it was invented by a Frenchman!

This new Hispano-Suiza aero engine was installed in the single-seater SPAD VII fighter and this power advantage eventually enabled the Allies to regain air superiority over the Germans. 40,000 examples were built.

The famous French fighter ace Georges Guynemar flew a Spad VII of the Stork Squadron and that’s how the bird became associated with Hispano Suiza.

How Much is a Hispano Suiza H6 worth?

A 1925 Hispano Suiza H6B Transformable Cabriolet by Belvallette sold for US$445,000 in January 2020 (source Sothebys).

But some restoration projects sell for rather less: US$149,000 was achieved in March 2022 for an H6B rolling chassis: #11007 (source: glenmarch).

And another 1921 H6B was tipped to make between €500,000 to €700,000 in 2022 (source: La Gazette Drouot).

Where Can I Buy a Hispano Suiza H6 For Sale?

Sotheby’s, Bonham’s and other car auctions plus carandclassic.com are good sources of these cars.

The Hispano Suiza H6 Speedster

Five racing H6Bs with short wheelbases and slightly bigger engines were built in 1922. They were open racing cars and were eventually named the “Boulogne Speedster” to recognise the H6’s 1 – 2 – 3 win at the sports car race at Boulogne by the drivers Dubonnet, Garnier and Boyriven in 1923.

The Hispano Suiza H6b and H6c Models

The H6B had a slightly more powerful engine. The H6C was an updated version of the H6B with an 8-litre engine developing 160 bhp (source: supercars.net).

The H6C Boulogne Tulipwood Torpedo

The 1924 H6C Dubonnet Boulogne Targa Florio speedster is probably the most famous Hispano Suiza of all. It was commissioned by the ex-flying ace and racing driver André Dubonnet, whose family had amassed a considerable fortune from the cognacs and aperitifs that still bear their name (source: tweedland).

Dubonnet ordered a special lightweight body of under 100 lbs (45 kgs) from an aircraft manufacturer, Nieuport, who obliged by building what was essentially an aircraft fuselage. Nieuport had built the famous 27 series of single-seat fighters.

The H6 body was constructed (it was said) of strips of tulipwood, an extremely light and strong wood weighing just 490 kg per cubic metre (whereas, say, mahogany weighs 673 kgs per cubic metre).

These strakes were riveted onto aluminium ribs in the manner of boat construction. This wooden body was then attached to an H6C Boulogne chassis powered by an 8-litre, 195 hp (145 kW), H6C engine.

Dubonnet entered the car in the 1924 Targa Florio in Sicily and came sixth in a field of 37 starters.

Dubonnet finished the gruelling event without a body or mechanical failure and drove home to Naples afterwards. The car eventually found its way to England, where it was discovered in the back of Hooper’s Coachbuilders in 1950 and then bought by an enthusiast.

This car is now in the Blackhawk Museum near Danville, California. Unfortunately, it has been over-restored, with the glorious patinated old wooden body stripped back to the raw wood and given a plastic varnish finish (source Geraldwingrove).

At this point it was discovered that the body was in fact planked in Honduras mahogany, not tulip wood after all. The ‘Tulip’, it would appear, is a stylistic term, referring to the tulip (rounded and pointed) shape of the rear of the body! Someone got the wrong end of the stick…

This car, with cream leather upholstery and a polished copper undertray now sadly resembles a bad replica (source: tripadvisor).

The 1938 Hispano Suiza Dubonnet Xenia One-Off

The 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6B Dubonnet Xenia was perhaps the apogee of the Art Déco look. The wraparound windscreen and cockpit, the teardrop silhouette and the silver aerodynamic bodywork recalled the glory days of fighter aircraft. Some consider it the most beautiful car ever made.

The car employed an independent coil spring suspension designed by the Hispano Suiza enthusiast André Dubonnet. This was a kind of leading arm arrangement hung off the ends of the axle beams.

It was briefly popular in the 1930s and 40s, being used from 1934 to 1939 by General Motors for the independent front suspension of their Chevrolet cars. It was soon superseded by better systems. It featured coil springs and shock absorbers enclosed in oil-filled containers which were prone to leaks (source wikipedia).)

Only one example was built, and the car was named after Dubonnet’s second wife Xenia Howard Johnston who sadly died after just four years of marriage. Hispano Suiza was soon to die, too, after the Spanish Civil War and the trading difficulties of the Second World War.

Thankfully the car itself survived the war, having been carefully hidden, and is now on display at the Mullin Museum in California. (source: wikipedia)

The Hispano Suiza H6 Carmen

What of Hispano Suiza today? After all, the company closed in 1946. In 2019 a new Hispano Suiza was announced.

The Carmen is a 1005 bhp electric sports car that loosely recalls the Hispano Suiza Dubonnet Xenia. It accelerates from 0-62mph in less than 3.0sec and is largely made of carbon fibre. And in a funny way, it goes right back to the first Hispano Suiza cars of 1898, which were electric.

But now there is an extraordinary legal dispute about who actually owns the name, with – or – without the hyphen (source: motortrend).

If you asked the average car enthusiast which was the first hybrid car ever to hit the road you might get a few different answers. The 1999 Honda Insight? The 1997 Toyota Prius?

A hybrid vehicle is one with more than one source of power. A hybrid submarine would use diesel engines on the surface and battery power underwater. Most hybrid cars use a conventional petrol or diesel engine and battery-powered electric motors around town.

And the answer? The first hybrid car was built in 1900!

Yes, the 1900 Lohner-Porsche was a four-wheel-drive, four tonnes monster that featured an electric motor in every wheel hub, a petrol engine and 1.8 tonnes of lead-acid batteries. Built by the young Ferdinand Porsche, it gained huge public attention but turned out too heavy and expensive for popular consumption.

In the US, the Owen Magnetic car used the same idea of a gasoline engine providing power to electric driving motors to get around the problem of the “crash” gearbox. It pioneered the idea of an electric series hybrid drivetrain. It just did without the batteries.

As we have seen in another article, before synchromesh gearboxes were invented, changing gear was unpleasant. Nervous drivers disliked the noisy business of sliding spinning gears into mesh with one another.

The Owen Magnetic avoided the crashing of gears by doing away with them altogether. There was no direct mechanical connection between the engine and the driven wheels.

Instead, the six-cylinder gasoline engine’s flywheel was replaced by a set of field windings acting as an electrical generator which in turn drove an electric motor attached to the rear wheels. The same principle is used in diesel-electric locomotives.

The electric current provided the transmission of power between the engine and wheels, and of course, electric current can be infinitely varied, leading to the slogan “The Car with a Thousand Speeds.”

The speed of the Own Magnetic was controlled by a lever next to the steering wheel.

This solution to the old “crash” gearbox was proposed by inventor Justus B. Entz. He began experimenting at the end of the 19th century with an electric transmission system that would give the driver the choice of an infinite number of ratios between engine and wheels.

There was thus no mechanical connection between the gasoline engine and the driven wheels. Furthermore, Entz’s system provided electrical braking which recharged the batteries. This was the first use of regenerative braking which is now a feature of modern electric vehicles.

The first prototype was destroyed when an electric spark set fire to the gasoline fuel system. His first Entz car was shown at the 1914 Auto Show in New York.

Entz’s car was spotted by the brothers Raymond and Ralph Owen, and who started making their own Owen Magnetic cars with Entz’s system.

The driving experience was unique. A single pedal controlled the engine speed, and a single lever on the steering wheel controlled the electrical output with a series of detented clicks.

There were no grinding gears or heavy clutch to operate. The reverse gear was easily selected by a lever at the left of the driving position, and the mechanical brakes were operated by a further lever.

Unfortunately, the car was highly expensive at $6,500 at a time when a Ford Model T cost $500. Like modern hybrids, it was heavy and most mechanics struggled to understand the technology.

As a result, the Owen Magnetic car stopped production in 1920. Was this a warning from history? Will our heavy and expensive electric and hybrid cars go the same way?

How much is an Owen Magnetic worth?

An Owen Magnetic is worth about $130,000 USD. This is based on one that sold at Bonhams for $129,000 in 2019. (source: Bonhams)

Where can you buy an Owen Magnetic?

The Owen Magnetic is a rare and expensive car. You can buy an Owen Magnetic from classic car sites, but they probably won’t appear that often. Here’s an example of one that went up for sale.

The Smith Flyer was essentially a wooden board with four bicycle wheels and two seats attached to it. There was no suspension; the body was the suspension, with the flexing of the wooden frame providing the only compliance over bumps. 

This harked back to the buckboard, a light horse-drawn American carriage. And there was no clutch, just a tiny engine driving a fifth wheel. 

Yes, the cheapest car in the World had more wheels on it than any car put on the market before or since.

Propulsion came in the form of a single-cylinder petrol engine directly attached to the fifth wheel at the rear. This engine was started with this fifth wheel raised in the air then, using a hand lever, the driver gingerly lowered the spinning wheel to the ground and…off it went.

For those of us fascinated by minimum motoring this device has a strange appeal. Despite its price it had more wheels than any other car, but no bodywork, lights, glass, clutch, gearbox, final drive, or differential. 

And this contraption was street legal.

The idea of a direct drive motor wheel had been dreamed up in 1910 by one Arthur Wall of Birmingham, England to power a bicycle. He dubbed it the AutoWheel, got a patent and built a vehicle like a huge ornate Easter egg- the first bubble car. 

He sold the rights to the A.O. Smith Corporation who built the Flyer. Despite its name the contraption never quite took off and Smith sold the rights to the Briggs and Stratton company, who painted them all red and produced their “Red Bug”, or the 1919 Briggs & Stratton Flyer.

In 1920 Briggs and Stratton made improvements to the engine; boring out the single cylinder and fitting a steel connecting rod and a flywheel magneto. The result was a tyre smoking 2 horsepower (1.5 kW). Compare that with the Bugatti Chiron, which has 1,580 hp (1,175 kW)!

Despite the tarmac-rippling power, sales fell even lower despite the rock-bottom price. In 1922 the Briggs & Stratton Flyer was selling from US$125 to US$150 (equivalent to $1930 to $2320).

Then in 1925 Briggs and Stratton stopped making the Flyer but kept making the engine for lawn mowers. And so Arthur Wall’s Motor Wheel motor was the progenitor of all the Briggs & Stratton motors to follow. And in 2015 they made 10 million engines for lawn mowers, pressure washers and generators.

Who knows, you may have used one.

Why The AO Smith Flyer Was The Cheapest Car

The Smith flyer was a bare-bones car that stripped away every luxury and pared away every cent. Many people are surprised to learn that it was – in its time – the most inexpensive car in the world, even though it had more wheels than any other car.

You might think the cheapest car ever was the VW Beetle, with its frugal four-cylinder air-cooled engine. Wrong: a Beetle from a Mexican factory in 1990 cost $5,300, about $10,499 in today’s money.

The 1947 Citroen 2CV, with only a two-cylinder air-cooled engine, no electric starter, one stop light and one windscreen wiper? No, about $6,000 today. 

Model T Ford? Nope, way more expensive back in 1908 at  $850, equivalent to $24,483 today.

OK, then it surely has to be the 2008 Tato Nano, a kind of egg-shaped Indian car with two cylinders made with cheap labour. No? No. That cost $3,056.

But the Smith Flyer comes in at the grand present-day total of $2,000!

Frequently Asked Questions about the AO / Briggs and Stratton Flyer Car

Lots of people want to know more about this strange early vehicle, so here are some of the most asked questions about it:

What’s the Value of the AO Smith / Briggs and Stratton Flyer? 

The value of the AO Smith/ Briggs and Stratton Flyer today is anywhere between $8000 to $27000, depending on the condition.

On 9 June 2007 Sotheby’s sold one for $12,100, Bonham’s sold one on 11 Nov 2017 for $8,800, and on 10 Oct 2019 Sotheby’s sold another one, this time for $27,500. 

Where to Buy a Smith Flyer (Briggs and Stratton Flyer) For Sale

If you want to buy an AO Smith/ Briggs and Stratton Flyer your best bet is motor auctions or online auction houses like eBay. As you can see from the answer above, Smith Flyers seem to be auctioned more than they’re offered for private sale.

The other option is to build one yourself, of course. It may not be as original, but it will be just as much fun – and much cheaper.

Can I Get Briggs and Stratton / Smith Flyer Blueprints or Plans? 

You can still buy AO Smith/ Briggs and Stratton Flyer Blueprints, and some are freely available online. You can find them on Pinterest and also there are some plans available on Scribd. You could also try searching car forums and similar, to see anyone who has completed this project themselves.

Can I Build a Briggs and Stratton / Smith Flyer?

Anyone could build an AO Smith/ Briggs and Stratton Flyer as it’s such a simple machine. Average DIY skills and a box of ordinary tools will suffice. Go for it!

Check it out here on youtube.

Contrary to common belief, Model T Fords did not only come in black, in fact the first cars came in blue, gray, green, and red, but not black. Only from the years 1914 to 1925 were Model T Fords only available in black.

One of the most persistent car myths is that Henry Ford decreed that his customers for the Model T could have any colour they liked as long as it was black. So did Henry Ford really say this, and was it true? Well, sort of. And sort of…

Henry Ford did not actually utter those exact words. In his autobiography he wrote:

“Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.”

Henry Ford, My Life and Work (1922)

And so like many famous quotes it sounds good but isn’t actually what was said. Somebody somewhere “improved” Ford’s quote and in so doing made it memorable. It has become part of the legend of this legendary car: the obsessive pursuit of the mass production of an identical product. And it worked: by 1918 half the cars on the roads of the USA were Model T Fords.

Those early Model Ts were sold in almost any color… except for black. Red, gray, green, and blue were all available, but not black. The first black Model T didn’t roll off the assembly line until 1913.

So why did the boss decide to sell only black cars? Here’s why: it was more efficient that way. Henry Ford explained the philosophy behind his car:

“I will build a motor car for the great multitude…constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise…so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one-and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.”

Henry Ford, 6/6/13 Ford Times.

Henry Ford relentlessly drove the price of the Model T down. When announced in 1908 the price of the Model T Ford was $825, or $26,211 today (£21,284). Within five years the Model T’s price had halved. By 1920 it had halved again. Then by 1925 the price was down to $260 ($8,260 today). (see our article:)

The main reason for painting all the Model Ts in black from 1914 was simple: economy of scale. It was cheaper that way. There was nothing particularly special about the colour; black didn’t dry any quicker, nor was it easier to apply.

If there was a technical reason I suspect it was that you can use very slightly less black paint to cover a panel: anyone who has ever spray painted a car knows that white paint, for example will often need another coat to hide imperfections.

There was another reason. The First World War caused disruption of the chemical industry in the US, so sourcing different coloured dyes became more difficult.

And it is interesting to note that during the life of the Model T the Ford Motor Company used no less than 30 types of black paint to coat different parts of the car (source McCalley, Model T Ford: The Car That Changed the World.) Multiplying that number by a dozen colour varieties would have cost money.

It is true that for around ten years of production, from 1914 to 1925 the Model T was only available in black. But for the last two years of the car’s life, with falling sales, six new colours were offered, including Royal Maroon, Phoenix Brown and Highland Green (source woot.com)

Why Were All Early Model T Fords Black?

Early Model T Fords, from 1908 to 1914 were available several colours: blue, gray, green, and red, but not black.

From 1914 to 1925, halfway through the production run the Model T was only available in black.

Then for roughly the last two years of production, from 1925 to 1927 the Model T was available in six new colours including brown, maroon and green.

So, although Henry Ford did order that all his Model T’s should be black this didn’t happen until the seventh year of production. The claim that all Model Ts were black is fake history.

Why Did Henry Ford Choose Black for the Model T Ford?

The Ford Motor Company explains on its website that “the policy was in place solely for efficiency and uniformity. The car was only offered in black from 1914-1925, however before and after that various models of the vehicle could be purchased in a variety of colors including blue, red, grey, and green.” (source: corporate.ford.com)

A fuller quote is here and might remind readers of another revolutionary car maker, Elon Musk:

‘In 1909 I announced one morning, without any previous warning, that in the future we were going to build only one model, that the model was going to be the Model T, and that the chassis would be exactly the same for all cars, and I remarked  “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” I cannot say that any one agreed with me. The selling people could not of course see the advantages that a single model would bring about in production. More than that, they did not particularly care.’

Henry Ford, My Life and Work 1922

To summarise, black was chosen because it was cheaper to produce cars in just one colour. Black paint also covers panels more efficiently than other colours. So less paint needed to be bought.

Were All Subsequent Model T Fords Black, or Different Colours?

In the last two years of production, from 1925 to 1927 the Model T was available in black and also in six new colours including brown, maroon and green.

Within a month of the start of the war the German army was in sight of the Eiffel Tower, but 600 Paris 1905 Renault AG taxis were requisitioned to take half a division of infantry overnight to the front, and the Germans were repelled during the First Battle of the Marne. And so the car was known thenceforth as the “Renault Taxi de la Marne”.

The Renault Type AG was a four-wheeled car with an 1200 cc twin-cylinder engine of just 8 horsepower (hp).

The engine was mounted at the front under a curved “coal scuttle” bonnet (or hood) and drove the rear wheels. The top speed was only around 25 mph, or 40 km/h (source: second.wiki)

From 1912, the G 3 version of the Renault Type AG was made for the taxi company Compagnie Générale des Voitures à Paris, with left-hand drive.

Up until then many cars on the Continent were fitted with right-hand drive, in fact in Italy cars drove on both the left and right sides of Italian roads until Mussolini made them see sense! Most racing circuits ran clockwise, thus favouring a right-hand driver.

The taxis were fitted with a landaulet body, which meant that the passengers were fully protected by glazed doors and a convertible fabric roof. There was a glazed division between them and the driver, who had no proper weather protection and no windscreen. The whole thing weighed about 1100 kgs, and cost 5700 French Francs, or around $50,000 today.

The Renault company was one of the first names in the motor industry. The brothers Marcel Renault and Louis Renault were some of the the most famous men in international racing, but during the 1903 Paris to Madrid race, Marcel was killed.

Due to some wild driving, Marcel Renault, who had started in 60th position, had nearly reached the front of the pack. He then had a huge accident at Couhé Vérac and died two days later, never regaining consciousness:

“Between Couhé-Vérac and Ruffec N.10 is a fast road, but it is a treacherous road for all that, with a gentle left-hand bend beyond Chaunay and a similar bend to the right in the Forêt de Ruffec. But Marcel Renault was going great guns along it in 1903, and having started Number 63, was overhauling Théry, one of his most formidable opponents in the light-car class, who had started fourth on his 30-h.p.

Decauville. Renault, the winner of Paris – Vienna the year before, and no novice at the game, decided that he could get by, his car lurched into the drain at the side of the road, swung round twice and overturned on top of the unfortunate driver, who died shortly afterwards. All unconscious of the tragedy, his brother Louis was still fleeting onwards to Bordeaux.” (source: Motor Sport, June 1903)

Louis Renault was tough, and even though his brother had been killed he oversaw the production of the Renault AG just two years later.

He introduced mass-production texhniques. Until then cars were luxury items and the price of the smallest Renault at the time was 3000 francs (₣3000); equivalent to ten years pay for an average worker.

Due to economies of scale the Renault became affordable and soon was the best-selling foreign brand in New York in 1907 and 1908.

The Battle of the Marne: How Soldiers Took Taxis to the Front Line

So how did the little Renault taxicab go to war?

On September 6, 1914 General Gallieni commandeered six hundred taxicabs at Les Invalides in the centre of Paris to carry soldiers to the front at Nanteuil le Haudouin, over thirty miles away. Each taxi carried five soldiers, four in the back and one next to the driver.

Only the rear lights of the taxis were lit, and the following drivers were ordered to follow the lights of the taxi ahead. The taxis, following city regulations, ran their meters! And in the end the French government paid the total fare of 70,000 francs. (source: wikipedia)

The unexpected arrival of three thousand soldiers by taxi was claimed to have been crucial in stopping the German advance.

It was the first occasion when motor transport was used in war to move large numbers of infantry forward to the lines of battle. However, like many stories of this kind it was somewhat exaggerated. General Gallieni recorded in his memoirs that the taxis were late, and the attack had already been repulsed.

The little taxi that went to war had a hugely beneficial effect on French morale. The Renault AG taxi was seen as the nation’s saviour, and to this day a Marne taxicab is displayed in the exhibit on the battle at the Musee de L’Armee at Les Invalides in Paris.

Renault taxis in Singapore

Renault taxis can still be seen working today, not in Paris but in Singapore. These are Renault Latitude models, an executive car made by Renault Samsung Motors (source: wikipedia)

Where Can I Find a Renault AG Taxi for Sale?

Specialised auctions are the best place to find a rare Edwardian car of this kind. Bonhams sold a very similar car for £89,500 (US$ 119,874) inc. premium on 4 Nov 2011 in London. But it might be cheaper just to pay the fare. (source: Bonhams).

Did you know…

..that Rolls-Royce once made engines for Renault? In 1914 Rolls-Royce had a large modern factory in Derby, crucial for the war effort.

The British government, desperate for proven aero engines for new biplanes persuaded the company to tender for the manufacture of fifty aero engines to an air-cooled V8 Renault design, and eventually Rolls-Royce received and fulfilled orders for 220 Renault 80 hp engines at between £400 and £426 each (£40,000 each today).

Renault’s sales success with the AG taxis helped them to expand into aero-engine manufacture. But who would ever have thought that Rolls-Royce once made engines for Renault?!

In fact Henry Royce was not impressed by the Renault V8 engine design. It had eight cast-iron air-cooled cylinders in two lines of four cooled by a centrifugal fan attached to the tail-end of the crankshaft.

This fan just wasn’t enough and the engines had to be run on a deliberately over-rich fuel mixture. The fuel was actually cooling the insides of the cylinders!

If the mixture was too lean the engine could be seen glowing red hot. Cracked cylinders, burnt exhaust valves and seized engines soon followed.

The Royal Aircraft Factory, a government-funded research establishment tried to solve this by developing aluminium air-cooled cylinders, and this idea was used much later by the Porsche 911 air-cooled cars.

The Royal Aircraft Factory engineers had to solve problem after problem on the Renault V8: the next one was thermal expansion.

The tops of the cylinders were much hotter than the bottoms and so the metal would expand more at the top than the bottom. The result was conical bores; very confusing to a piston travelling up and down!

The solution was large fins at the top graduating to little fins at the bottom as you can confirm if you look at a motorbike engine in the car park (source: Merlin).

The Renault engine contract led Rolls-Royce into making their own aero-engines such as the immortal Merlin, and they now make the best aero-engines in the world. And partly thanks to the little Renault Taxi that went to War.